Daniela beat Lilya Hadab, a young Morrocan player, 6-1 6-0 in 54 minutes. It seems like it was a really easy win for Daniela with minimal problems as she just had too much class. She was untroubled on serve and was all over Hadab's serve, converting 6/11 BPs. A minor quibble is that Daniela served 4 DFs but she was probably experimenting a little. Regardless of the quality of the opponent, it's a good quick win.

Daniela will play the winner of Olga Savchuk or Quinine Lemoine.

Edit: Lemoine beat Savchuk 6-2 6-3 so she's next for Daniela. Lemoine's ranked 167 and she mostly plays ITFs. Her best results have generally come indoors or on hardcourt. This is her first tournament since a $25,000 ITF in Moscow in February.

Daniela Hantuchova is right about everything.

chungwit
Golden Slam

Post subject: Re: Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Rabat

Posted: 29. April 2017 16:06

Joined: 29. April 2008Posts: 8610Local Time: |20. March 2018| 03:19

Qualifying draw:QS.jpg

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.Daniela Hantuchova is right about everything.

Alex Isabel
Career Grand Slam

Post subject: Re: Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Rabat

Posted: 29. April 2017 20:19

Joined: 23. August 2011Posts: 1450Local Time: |19. March 2018| 22:19

Well, this caught me off guard, but I like it! Had no idea Dani was playing this tourney. One question: on the home page here she is listed with 565 wins. Did the 3 she got a few weeks ago when she got to a semifinal in Italy not count for some reason? I would like to think she got #569 today.

Let's Go, Daniela!

chungwit
Golden Slam

Post subject: Re: Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Rabat

Posted: 29. April 2017 20:23

Joined: 29. April 2008Posts: 8610Local Time: |20. March 2018| 03:19

Daniela's the second match on Centre Court tomorrow, play starts at 12 noon.

Daniela Hantuchova is right about everything.

Peter007
Tier IV Title Holder

Post subject: Re: Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Rabat

Posted: 30. April 2017 16:18

Joined: 22. September 2015Posts: 43Local Time: |20. March 2018| 03:19

chungwit
Golden Slam

Post subject: Re: Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Rabat

Posted: 30. April 2017 17:14

Joined: 29. April 2008Posts: 8610Local Time: |20. March 2018| 03:19

A really good win by Daniela to fight back from a set down to win in 2 hours 46 minutes. Judging from the stats it does seem like a scrappy, grinding win but Daniela was able to win the important points in the last two sets. There were 3 breaks each in the first set, Daniela was 3/9 on BPs in the second although she broke in every game she had a BP while Lemoine was 2/2 and Daniela was 3/4 on BPs in the third while Lemoine was 1/7 although these were all in the second game of the set while Daniela again broke in every game she had a BP. Daniela was 5-3 up in the first set but was broken to 30 trying to serve it out in the next game.

Daniela was 1-3 down in the second set but she showed her fighting spirit by breaking right back before breaking to 0 in the ninth game then serving out to 0.Daniela was also 0-2 down in the third before she saved 3 GPs to break back on her 2nd BP. From there she never looked back as she won the remaining games easily enough as she was never behind in the score in any of the and the closest Lemoine got to winning a game was 30 all in the fifth before Daniela won the next two points to break and go ahead for good. This was a battling win where Daniela had to show all of her fighting qualities to win Winning the last 6 games of the match is pretty impressive.

Daniela plays the winner of Sadikovic and Dabrowski who are playing right now.

Edit: Dabrowski won in three sets although it only took 1:35. She beat Amandine Hesse in the first round. Dabrowski's ranked 340 although she's mainly a doubles player. She beat Buyukakcay on clay last month in Pelham, USA and won Nashville indoors last November. A lot will depend on how well Daniela recovers from her match today.

Daniela Hantuchova is right about everything.

chungwit
Golden Slam

Post subject: Re: Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Rabat

Posted: 30. April 2017 17:53

Joined: 29. April 2008Posts: 8610Local Time: |20. March 2018| 03:19

Daniela's the second match on Court 3, play starts at 12 noon

Daniela Hantuchova is right about everything.

Alex Isabel
Career Grand Slam

Post subject: Re: Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Rabat

Posted: 30. April 2017 19:48

Joined: 23. August 2011Posts: 1450Local Time: |19. March 2018| 22:19

When Daniela won in Birmingham a few years ago, I related a tale about how I was en route to church as the second set progressed. It's not a good practice to bring a phone into church and I wasn't about to do it, even with our gal serving for the match and the title. Just as we turned the corner onto the road church is located, word came that Daniela had won. I remain grateful to the Good Lord to this day.This time, we arrived at church with Dani down 4-6 in the tiebreaker. Well aware of all the chances she'd had to take the set before that, I was resigned to her dropping the tiebreak and that she might have missed her chance to win the match. But knowing that we root for the Queen of Three Setters, I tried to keep hope alive as I entered the chapel. Wow, did I ever come back to the good news! If my count is correct, we now have 570 down and just 30 to go.

Let's Go, Daniela!

chungwit
Golden Slam

Post subject: Re: Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Rabat

Posted: 1. May 2017 16:59

Joined: 29. April 2008Posts: 8610Local Time: |20. March 2018| 03:19

This is disappointing. The first set was similar to yesterday with lots of breaks and Daniela losing a tiebreak. Unlike yesterday, she wasn't able to launch a comeback and she lost in straight sets.

Daniela had two set points in the tiebreak: at 6-5 on her own serve and again and 7-6 on Dabrowski's serve but she couldn't convert. The first set was crucial and I'm sure if Daniela had won it then she'd have had a great chance of winning the match. Daniela was 4-0 down in the first set but she fought back to 4-4 levelling after a long game where Dabrowski had 5 GPs before Daniela broke. Daniela was then broken to go 5-4 down before she broke back when Dabrowski served for the set. She saved at couple of BPs before going 6-5 up before Dabrowski held to love to go into a tiebreak. Dabrowski was 5-3 up in that before Daniela won the next three points to go 6-5 up but she couldn't take her set points. Given what a rollercoaster the first set was with such wild changes in momentum and with both Daniela and Dabrowski having chances it win the set, it was always going to be a big boost to whoever won it, unfortunately it was Dabrowski.

Having said that Daniela was actually up 2-1 with a break in the second set but she was broken right back. Daniela had 2 BPs in the seventh game but couldn't convert and she was then broken in the next game before Dabrowski served it out.

I wonder how much yesterday's long match took out of Daniela because she had a slow start and seemed to fade a wee bit in the second set. At the same time, if she'd been able to win the first set then would likely have been a crushing blow to Dabrowski and given Daniela so much momentum for the rest of the match.

Daniela's second serve was vulnerable through the match as she won only 11/33 points on it (6/18 in the first set, 5/15 in the second) and doing better on the serve or getting more first serves in. Daniela did slightly better than Dabrowski on first serve winning 60% to 58%, but Dabrowski got more in: 82% to 62% and won 50% of her 2nd serve points.

Still, Daniela did a round better here than she did last year but this was a good chance for her to get into the main draw.

Daniela Hantuchova is right about everything.

Alex Isabel
Career Grand Slam

Post subject: Re: Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Rabat

Posted: 1. May 2017 19:03

Joined: 23. August 2011Posts: 1450Local Time: |19. March 2018| 22:19

Wouldn't you know. Of the 4 spots left for qualies, Dabrowski drew the least known of the four, the one, the only Lina Qostel. The others were matched up with Shvedova, Davis, and Anastasia Alphabet. Plus, Soler-Espinosa, who was blown out today love&2, got a lucky loser spot. This is reminiscent of the kind of dumb luck Daniela had so often in the past. Makes the tough loss today even tougher to take.I am glad to see that we have updated Dani's stats and that she has reached 570 career wins. Just 30 to go for her to join some exclusive company.

Let's Go, Daniela!

Alex Isabel
Career Grand Slam

Post subject: Re: Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Rabat

Posted: 2. May 2017 19:21

Joined: 23. August 2011Posts: 1450Local Time: |19. March 2018| 22:19

Dabrowski tore Qoztel apart, love & 1. She now plays Schiavone, who we know Daniela can beat. Becoming frustrating as all get out.

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum